How To Store Holiday Decorations The KonMarie Way

Getting your home all decked out for the holiday season is probably one of favorite things about winter. Well, probably the only thing I like about winter! When it comes time to take everything down and store for the following year, it can become super time consuming and disorganized. I mean, who hasn’t just thrown everything into a bin and shoved away for later?!?!

Instead of just throwing all your holiday decorations into boxes and bins to go through next year, why not try decluttering and store holiday decorations the KonMarie way. This means following the methodology of Marie Kondo, the guru behind the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

Marie Kondo wrote her book to help streamline how to organize. The thought behind it is to ask yourself if an item “sparks joy”. If it does, you keep it. If it does not, then you get rid of it. I feel this method works well in certain situations, and holiday decor is totally one of them!

If a holiday decoration does “spark joy” you keep it for next year. If it does not, then you can donate or throw away.

How To Store Holiday Decorations The KonMarie Way

Collect All Decorations

The first step the KonMarie Method says to declutter and store holiday decorations is to collect all the decorations you have around your home. Bring all the decorations to one central location. I suggest a large area like your living or dining room.

Marie Kondo is very specific about making sure you find every last piece of holiday decorations you have so you can visually see the entire pile of items you have.

Declutter Unwanted Items

Once everything is collected, it is suggested that you hold each object and ask yourself if it “sparks joy”. Does this item make you happy? Is there purpose to this item in your holiday decor? You need to be totally honest with yourself when asking if these items make you happy. That is why it is recommended to hold each item in your hands. Don’t just look at each item, physically hold it in your hand to decide if it “sparks joy”.

After you decide if it “sparks joy”, you set it aside and move onto the next item. If it doesn’t overwhelm you, I suggest sorting into categories as you declutter. Some of my clients find that they need to separate these two steps, while others like to do these two steps together. See which way makes you feel comfortable and go with that!

Sort Into Categories

All the items left in front of you should be the items that “spark joy”. Sort these items into categories based on how you use them. For example, if you have a Christmas village, group all the parts together into one category. All the ornaments should be grouped together. Garland can be grouped together.

When every item is grouped, store those categories into bins. Make sure the bins are sized correctly. What that means is the size of the bin and the amount of things going in the bin match. For example, if you have large garland, store it in a large bin. If you have smaller ornaments, store in an appropriately sized ornament bag or bin.

The reasoning behind that is so you are able to keep the categories separate. Instead of grabbing large bins to store holiday decorations in, you are creating bins based on categories. This will make it easier for next year when you decorate again!

Label Bins

When all the bins are categorized, make sure to label them so you know what is in them. There are many ways to label. I used vinyl labels on each bin. You could also use my favorite DYMO label maker! Whatever you do, make sure you have a label on each bin so you know what is inside.

Store On Shelves

Finally create a shelving unit to store all the boxes and bins. To store holiday decorations in our storage room, we used the Rubbermaid FastTrack Shelving. I wanted adjustable shelves for our bins, but I needed to create storage around wires and pipes. This system was the perfect solution.

How To Install Shelves

To start, hang the FastTrack Shelving Rail near the ceiling of your storage space. This is the bar that will rods will hand on. Since our space is awkward ceiling height, I had to make sure the rods hung as far down as they could without hitting the pipe. It is a little bit of trial and error so make sure you have another person helping before you start drilling.

Once the shelving rail is up, place the FastTrack Shelving Upright Rods on the rail. I spaced ours out so we had two at the ends and one in the middle to support the weight of the holiday decorations. Drill them into the wall once they are level.

Place the FastTrack Shelving Brackets into the rods based on the height of the bins you want to store. Then place the TightMesh Wire Shelf on top of the brackets. The trick to get the shelf on the brackets is to left up the back while pushing in the front. Sounds super silly, but it totally works! Do each bracket individually. Place the shelf on the edge of the bracket. Lift up the back with one hand while pushing the shelf into the bracket slots. Press down the shelf with your wrist and you are set. Repeat for each bracket.

Store holiday decorations on the shelving unit so you are not piling boxes and bins on top of each other on the floor. You can also use the FastTrack System to create a gift wrapping station near your holiday decorations. This will make it easy to wrap and gift presents for any upcoming holiday.

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As you are packing up your holiday decorations, schedule time to actually declutter your holiday decor using the KonMarie Method. Collect all the holiday decorations from around your home. Ask yourself if each item “sparks joy”. Sort into categories based on the items you love and want to keep. Label bins with each category of item that is being stored inside. Create a shelving unit to store holiday decorations so they do not have to pile up on the floor!

My name is Jessica and I am the founder and editor of The Organized Mama. I was born and raised in Minnesota and currently live in Illinois. I graduated Indiana University with a degree in elementary education. I decided to share my tips and tricks to keeping things organized in hopes of helping people stay organized with little ones. I am in the process of becoming a professional organizer to help assist families in keeping households organized. At The Organized Mama, you will find ways to keep organized, stay crafty and, most of all, enjoy motherhood!

Meet Jessica

The Organized Mama is an organizing and home decorating blog based out of the Chicagoland area. With a focus on helping families get crafty and organized, I believe that order and creativity can promote joy, even when doing the most daily and basic tasks!